Alisha+Ravi+-+Meditation+3

Meditation #3 How are social identify, power, and academic literacy related? The connection between social identify, and academic literacy was one of the first things that became evident to me when I started teaching this year. My students would often ask if I always talk this way, even when I’m not teaching. To this, I would explain to them that yes, I did, because this was how I grew up speaking. It is my home literacy. While Standard English may be my home literacy, for my students it is not. I noticed reluctance in them to give up the language that was a part of their social identity. We all have a variety of repertoires of a language, and make choices as to which register to use in particular situations. This choice though, is limited to “which registers, dialects and variations [we] fully develop in [our] repertoires” (Thomas & Tchudi, 1999, 44). We do have choices as to which repertoires we develop, but as teenagers, my students are very limited as to the repertoires that they see, and hear. In order to become fluent in a particular repertoire, it must become social as well. Many students avoid speaking Standard English, as it is not a fully developed register for them, just as I might avoid speaking French to fluent French speakers, as it is a language that I am familiar with, but not fluent in. This idea directly connects to power. My students do recognize that the Standard English dialect is the one that holds the power in our society. I have students tell me that in order to get a job they have to “talk like white people”, or “not talk ghetto”. It is disheartening that these students inherently know that the language that is so important to who they are is not recognized as being legitimate in society. This often leads them to believe that they are unable to succeed as the language is such an inherent part of who they are. Teaching code-switching is a way that can legitimize both dialects in the classroom, but it becomes problematic when applied to real life. Students are taught to recognize Standard English, and Ebonics as two different and distinct languages without one being inferior to the other. This does not, in any way, solve the issues with that in society. Despite the languages being equally valued in the classroom, students still have to be made aware when each code is appropriate or acceptable, and realistically, in order to be successful, they must use Standard English the majority of the time. The correlation between language and power is a difficult topic to address in the classroom, as it hurts my students in so many different ways. They come into school feeling inferior due to their struggles with the language that we use. Familiarity with Standard English is essential for success not in just in ELA, but all across the board. I often find myself having to tell my students “That’s just how we have to do it”, when I correct Standard English grammar in their writing. I am very aware of how they answer is not enough, but I have yet to find a better answer for them. While the readings this semester have scratched the surface of this issue, I hope to be able to delve deeper in this question in order to offer my students a better answer to the question: “Why do we have to do it this way?”